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Zimbabwe's Mugabe vows
retaliation against West

Associated Press

Dec 17, 9:16 AM EST

By ANGUS SHAWAssociated
Press

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Zimbabwe's president vowed Friday to
avenge Western economic curbs imposed on his ruling party by threatening to
seize foreign-owned businesses and mining interests.

Under current
empowerment laws, black Zimbabweans are slated to acquire a 51 percent stake
in businesses. During a party convention Friday in the eastern city of
Mutare, broadcast live on state television, President Robert Mugabe warned
British and U.S firms "unless you remove sanctions we will take 100
percent."

Western countries imposed targeted restrictions on Mugabe
and his party elite to protest violations of democratic and human rights in
a decade of political and economic turmoil in the southern African
nation.

"Why shouldn't we hit back? That includes companies that are
mining gold and other minerals, and some have been here since before I was
born," said Mugabe, 86.

Mugabe said about 400 British firms and an
unspecified number of American companies were operating in
Zimbabwe.

He said sanctions had caused "immense difficulties" for the
nation, but that he believed the discovery of large diamond fields near
Mutare would help ease economic woes.

"We have the resources to
improve the lives of our people," he said

Critics of Mugabe blame the
economic meltdown on his party's ruinous policies that began with the often
violent seizures of thousands of white-owned farms in 2000 in the former
regional bread basket now dependent on food aid.

Mugabe also told
about 4,500 party delegates at a teacher's college near Mutare, 260
kilometers (160 miles) east of Harare, that he wanted to see laws introduced
to punish Zimbabweans who supported sanctions with treason
charges.

His party has repeatedly accused the former opposition of
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, now in a fragile coalition government, of
supporting the sanctions as part of a Western attempts for "regime
change."

The coalition was formed after violence-marred elections in 2008
and Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change party boycotted a
presidential runoff poll, citing torture, intimidation and illegal arrests
of his supporters.

Mugabe said he regretted joining the
coalition.

"It has no policy, no philosophy ... all it wants is regime
change that the British and Americans have designed," he said.

Mugabe
has called for elections next year to bring the coalition to an
end.

Tsvangirai's party argues business takeovers are scaring away
much-needed investment in commerce, industry and the nation's failing
infrastructure.

Mugabe on Friday dismissed demands by Tsvangirai that the
next poll should only be a presidential runoff between
them.

Delegates cheered when Mugabe said his party's provincial
representatives at the convention would have the final decision on whether
to hold elections mid 2011.

He cautioned against violence surrounding
future polling.

"Don't fight, but if someone is hitting you, don't just
stand there and take it," said Mugabe.

Zim power-sharing
can't continue, says Mugabe

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe told his party conference
on Friday that the country's uneasy power-sharing government "can't be
allowed to continue".

"We agreed to work together ... as a compromise
to enable us to sort things out, establish peace, political stability, now
some are dragging their feet," Mugabe told members of his Zanu-PF
party.

"The GPA can't be allowed to continue," he added, referring to the
Global Political Agreement with the ex-opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) party of his Prime Minister and arch-foe Morgan
Tsvangirai.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing administration
six months after a chaotic presidential vote in 2008 but they are now in the
throes of a vicious battle over when the next national elections should take
place.

Mugabe said the deal with the MDC had failed.

"What it has
done is to reveal and expose to us what we did not know; now we know this
creature, the MDC, has no policy, no ideology, no philosophy except change,
change," he told delegates at the official opening of the
conference.

Disputed run-off pollMore than 4 000 Zanu-PF
delegates assembled in the eastern city of Mutare, where they are expected
to rubber-stamp Mugabe's push for polls in the first half of
2011.

In March 2008, Tsvangirai won the presidential election
against Mugabe but fell short of the required majority, resulting in a
run-off ballot that the MDC leader refused to take part in citing violence
against MDC supporters, allowing Mugabe to triumph unopposed.

On
Thursday, Tsvangirai said only a presidential vote would address the issue
of "illegitimacy" following the disputed run-off poll, but he refused to
specify any date when elections should take place.

The MDC has previously
said that credible polls are not possible until 2012 at the
earliest.

NationalisationMeanwhile, Mugabe told the conference that
British and US companies in Zimbabwe would be nationalised if sanctions
against the country were not dropped.

"Why should we continue to have
400 British companies operating here freely?" Mugabe said.

"Why
should we continue having companies and organisations that are supported by
Britain and America without hitting back? Time has come for us to revenge,"
he said, referring to laws that allow him to take the companies
over.

"We can read the riot act and say this is 51% we are taking,
and if the sanctions persist we are taking over 100%." -- AFP

Zimbabwe vote
needed to resolve 'illegitimacy': PM

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) – Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on
Thursday said only a presidential vote would address the issue of
"illegitimacy" following 2008 polls won unopposed by President Robert
Mugabe.

"An election in Zimbabwe should be held to deal with the
question of illegitimacy associated with the farcical presidential run-off
election of June 2008," Tsvangirai, who later formed a unity government with
Mugabe, told reporters after his party's council meeting.

Mugabe has
hinted that elections could be held in the first quarter of 2011, even
though the referendum on a new constitution is still not finalised.

No
formal announcement of elections has been made, but diplomats had already
warned that polls could plunge the country back into bloodshed and
chaos.

Tsvangirai said the elections would require monitoring by the
regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community, six months before
and after the event.

In March 2008, Tsvangirai won the presidential
election after beating Mugabe but fell short of the required majority,
resulting in a run-off.

But the leader of the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) pulled out of the run-off, citing violence against his
supporters. Mugabe later won the race unopposed.

A political crisis
followed and the two leaders subsequently formed the unity
government.

The arrangement was strained from the start, with Tsvangirai
struggling to assert his authority within the power-sharing
regime.

He told reporters that the unity government had made progress
this year, but was also characterised by frustrations, as a result of what
he said were Mugabe's continued unconstitutional acts.

Mugabe's
ZANU-PF party is currently holding a conference which is expected to endorse
him as the candidate for the proposed 2011 elections.

Defiant
Mugabe says no to Tsvangirai

HARARE - President Robert Mugabe has declared that Zimbabwe
will hold harmonised elections next year putting paid to any hopes that he
would accede to demands by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who is pushing
for presidential polls only in 2011.The veteran leader told his
supporters at the annual Zanu PF People’s Conference in Mutare that calls by
the MDC leader for the presidential elections were nonsensical.

''We
hear that MDC are dragging their feet on elections and are saying they want
presidential elections alone. We damn that, it's nonsense. Whatever
elections we are going to have must be done together and we must do it
harmoniously,” said Mugabe.

“We must have presidential, parliament
and local government elections together. It must be a matter which needs a
resolution at this conference.''

Mugabe was responding to the MDC
national council announcement on Thursday which resolved to push for the
Presidential elections in 2011 and defer the general poll to 2013 in line
with the constitution.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the council (NEC)
resolved that the next election should be solely for the disputed
presidential election of 2008 with a harmonised election to be held in 2013
as prescribed by the constitution.

“Neither Zanu PF nor its President
(Mugabe) have the right of unilaterally calling for the aforesaid
Presidential election and that article 23.1.b of the GPA and the 8th
schedule of the constitution which requires agreement, should be respected,”
Tsvangirai told the media on Thursday.

But a defiant Mugabe said the GPA,
which expires in February, was nearing its end and could not therefore be
used to determine the election time line.

''We agreed to have the GPA as
a compromise it is not a permanent structure, so we must go for elections
and not keep dragging our feet,” he said.

Mugabe warned his supporters to
desist from violence during the election time, but told them to retaliate in
attacked by opposition supporters, “but we must fight back if attacked, we
must not fold our hands if we are provoked.''

His statements received
wild cheers from his thousands of supporters who are known for their
violence which they often mete on opposition supporters.

Mugabe, for the
first since 1980, lost an election in the March 29 voting but held the
results for five weeks before announcing that Tsvangirai had won but fell
short of an outright victory.

Zanu PF supporters went on a retributive
campaign against perceived MDC supporters in the volatile provinces of
Mashonaland East and Central in the run up to the Presidential run
off.

From the resultant violence and intimidation, Tsvangirai withdrew
from the poll leaving Mugabe to hold a one man election which was slammed by
the international community.

SADC intervened by pushing a power
sharing deal which brought the inclusive government which Mugabe wants to
terminate by ending the GPA. - Daily News

Women’s
Coalition to block Mugabe’s 2011 elections

Women in Zimbabwe have come out strongly against the idea
of holding elections in 2011, saying that a full implementation of the
Global Political Agreement is necessary, before any polls. Speaking under
the auspices of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, the women said they plan
to block Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai from holding elections next
year, if they do not make the key changes that they agreed to.

The
coalition’s National Coordinator, Netsai Mushonga, said they would approach
local political parties, African ambassadors in Zimbabwe, SADC leaders and
the GPA chief facilitator, Jacob Zuma, to present a roadmap for elections
that the women want to be followed.

Mushonga is quoted as saying: “This
document is an appeal to the regional blocs that women of Zimbabwe are not
interested in the holding of elections now. Why rush to hold elections when
the GPA is not yet fulfilled? We need to see reforms first before we talk of
elections.”Mushonga stressed that the violence of the June 2008 elections is
still fresh in the minds of Zimbabweans, particularly women who were badly
victimized through gang rapes. She said elections without national healing
would bring back these terrible memories.

At the ZANU PF conference
that started on Friday, Robert Mugabe made it clear that he wants elections
next year. But there is a consensus among civic groups and the MDC, that
major reforms are necessary in order to hold elections that are free and
fair.

The pressure for change is growing but Zimbabwean writer and
journalist, Geoff Hill, said he does not think any of it will make a
difference to Mugabe. Hill explained that the ZANU PF leader will call for
elections whenever he wants and SADC and the AU will do nothing about
it.“As long as Mugabe has guns you cannot push him out. It was the same with
apartheid in South Africa, until De Klerk sat down in good spirit, but there
is no good spirit with Mugabe in Zimbabwe,” said Hill.

The writer
added that Mugabe would be happy to hold a one-man election if there is no
opposition, as he did when Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the 2008
presidential runoff due to the extreme violence. Hill said the discovery of
diamonds has given Mugabe and ZANU PF even more strength and they will use
that wealth to hold on to power at all costs.

ZANU
plots how to regain lost ground

MUTARE – President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party will use its
annual conference opening here today to re-energise rank and file members
and set the stage for a campaign to regain lost political ground, a top
official said on Thursday.

The former sole ruling party was defeated
in parliamentary elections in March 2008 while Mugabe lost a parallel
presidential election to then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now Prime
Minister after a power-sharing deal brokered by regional
leaders.

"It's all systems go, the significance of this conference is
that we are going to review our situation,” said Mike Madiro, the chairman
of ZANU PF’s executive in Manicaland province under which Mutare
falls.

"This conference is to re-invigorate the party, we will also
discuss the state of the economy and re-energise ourselves. The state of the
political situation in terms of our enemies external and internal enemies
will also be reviewed. Everything is now all systems go," Madiro
said.

The conference that is widely expected to sound the death knell for
the coalition government with a resounding call for elections next year to
choose a new government will be opened by Mugabe today, while 5 000
delegates drawn from the country's 10 political provinces are expected to be
in attendance.

The conference which ends Saturday is being held under
the theme "Total Control of our Resources through Indigenisation and
Empowerment,” a reference to Mugabe’s controversial drive to force all
foreign owned firms to cede significant stake to local blacks by
2015.

The business community has warned that the empowerment plan will
scare away investors and plunge back into recession an economy that has
shown impressive signs of recovery since the unity government came into
office in February 2009.

But Mugabe, known for his love to swim
against the tide, has brushed aside such warnings, while also ignoring
concerns -- including from within ZANU PF -- that holding elections next
year could undo the economic gains of the last 22 months as the country has
a history of political violence and disputes.

No date has been set
for the polls but Mugabe, who wields the most power in the Harare coalition
government, has rallied his party and supporters to brace themselves for
elections by not later than next June.

Zimbabwe’s economy registered its
first growth in a decade last year after the power-sharing government
implemented measures, including the adoption of multiple currencies that
doused hyperinflation.

The economy that grew by 5.7 percent in 2009 is
this year expected to expand by 8.1 percent and another 9.3 percent in 2011,
according to Finance Minister Tendai Biti.

However analysts say
Zimbabwe’s long-term growth outlook remains in doubt with investor fears
over the indigenisation drive as well as uncertainty about the country’s
future political direction. -- ZimOnline

MDC-T
to hold congress in May

HARARE - The MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai has announced
that his party's elective congress will be held by the end of May next
year.

Tsvangirai made the announcement at a media briefing in Harare
on Wednesday at his party headquarters Harvest house following his national
executive council meeting which deliberated on many issues affecting his
party and its participation in the inclusive government.

''The
national council met and among the issues on the agenda, we debated the
state of the party and the council noted that the provisions of Article
5.2.2 of the party's Constitution with regards to the holding of a Congress
and therefore directs that the Party Congress shall be held by 30 May
2011,'' said Tsvangirai.

The MDC national executive the decision
making of the party also expressed their frustrations in the working of the
inclusive government blaming it on Zanu PF and its leader Robert Mugabe's
political antics describing them as ''unilateral and unconstitutional
acts.''

Tsvangirai's MDC is the bigger faction of the two factions. It
has 9 MPs in the House of Assembly and 25 in teh Senate compared to the
smaller faction led by Arthur Mutambara which has 10 legislators in the
parliament chambers.

At the planned congress next May, the MDC-T
leadership willhold elections to fill the national executive council posts
and any positions in the party structures.

The leaders also resolved
to waive the limit the time provided in the party constitution for its
members to hold positions.

The Mutamba led MDC faction is also set to
hold its party congress in February where Mutambara will contest for the
presidency of his party against Welshman Ncube the current secretary-
general.

The holding of the Ccongresses by the two MDC parties is
preparation for the national elections expected to be held next
year.

Zanu PF has already endorsed its first secretary Robert Mugabe as
the sole candidate for the presidential elections.

Expatriate
Zimbabweans Gather to Promote Investment for Economic
Development

Development Foundation for Zimbabwe Executive Director
Nokwazi Moyo said the gathering began on a high note on Thursday with
government officials giving a green light for the launch of
programs

Gibbs Dube | Washington 16 December 2010

More than
120 expatriate Zimbabweans along with members of domestic civic
organizations and government officials were meeting this week in the
northwestern resort town of Victoria Falls to discuss investment to promote
economic development in the country.

Development Foundation for
Zimbabwe Executive Director Nokwazi Moyo said the gathering began on a high
note on Thursday with government officials giving members of the diaspora a
green light to launch various programs in the country.

Over the next
three days, delegates will draft proposals to strengthen diaspora networks
and boost their ability to contribute to economic recovery and development
in particular in social services, investment, governance, human rights and
rural development.

Moyo said diasporans intend to engage Zimbabweans in
the country when launching their various initiatives.

The Development
Foundation's aim is to provide a platform for constructive engagement
between Zimbabweans in the so-called diaspora and those inside the country
working in the government, business and civil society as well as the general
public.

Top
international diamond official denies trade in Zim blood diamonds

A top international diamond official has denied
that he dealt in rough diamonds from the controversial Chiadzwa alluvial
fields, after the allegations arose in incriminating diplomatic cables
published by WikiLeaks.

The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB)
has denied that its vice-President, Ernest Blom, dealt in the diamonds, an
allegation that surfaced in cables from former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe,
James McGee. One of the cables, which were sent in 2008, states that African
Consolidated Resources (ACR) chief executive Andrew Cranswick, named Blom,
when describing the way in which illicit Chiadzwa diamonds were exported.
Cranswick claimed that Blom, who was then President of South Africa’s
Diamond Merchants Association, was not only involved in the illegal trade,
he actually boasted about it.

ACR used to be the legal title holders
of the Chiadzwa claim but the mining group was forced off the site at
gunpoint, in 2006. The group has been involved in a protracted legal battle
ever since to have their rights to the area honoured. But the High Court in
Zimbabwe earlier this year cancelled their licence. In the meantime the
government, through the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC), has
continued mining the area and threatening to sell the stones, without
approval from the trade watchdog the Kimberley Process. The group has still
not reached a decision on Zimbabwe’s trade future and, legally, the stones
are not authorised for international trade.

WFDB president Avi Paz
has since reacted to the claims revealed by WikiLeaks and said this week:
“Naturally, upon receiving these very disturbing allegations, I immediately
contacted Mr Blom, and asked him to react. Mr Blom completely denied the
accusations, saying it was 'unsubstantiated hearsay’.”

In a letter to
Paz, Blom stated: “I categorically deny any illegal trading or [that I]
boasted about it, as Cranswick allegedly said in the dispatch. I had never
travelled to Harare before I went up there as part of the Kimberley Process
review mission in 2007. I have only ever met Cranswick twice in my life. The
last time [was] more than a year ago, when he tried to elicit my assistance
to get his mine back, which I declined.”

The cable exposes the high level
corruption of Zimbabwe’s diamond trade, implicating Robert Mugabe’s wife and
money-man, Gideon Gono, as direct beneficiaries of the illicit trade. Grace
Mugabe has since threatened to sue the Standard newspaper for publishing
these claims, but the news of her involvement did not come as a surprise to
most people.

Rights groups who have been campaigning for Zimbabwe to be
banned from international trade over human rights abuses at Chiadzwa, have
since last year been reporting that Mugabe’s elite were benefiting from the
illegal diamond trade. Alan Martin, an official from one of these groups,
Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), told SW Radio Africa on Friday that the
cables “vindicate what we have been saying for a few years
now.”

“This should be a wake up call to dissenters within the Kimberley
Process who want to push for Zimbabwean exports to resume,” Martin said.
“This must be taken very seriously as we look towards Zimbabwe’s
future.”

Martin meanwhile said the claims made against Ernest Blom,
whether true or not, “prove that there are people who are interested in
trading with Zimbabwe’s diamonds.”

“This in itself is very worrying,”
Martin said, adding: “There are serious issues at stake if these people and
some countries are seen to be dealing with Zimbabwe, and not just reputation
issues.”

UZ
petrol bomb attack forces policy u-turn

A recent petrol bomb attack at the University of Zimbabwe set fire
to an Isuzu twin cab vehicle, belonging to pro Vice Chancellor, Professor
Chipo Dyanda. Now authorities have been forced into extending the
registration deadline for exams, in order to calm tensions on
campus.Disgruntled students are thought to have petrol bombed the car,
protesting against a decision to bar those who, owing to financial
difficulties, had failed to meet a 15th November deadline to register for
exams. Even when some of the students eventually got the money, the
university had been adamant they would have to register to sit for exams in
the next semester.

On Monday the 6th December the army bomb disposal unit
was called in to the UZ administration block. A student, who asked to be
called Mayibuye, told SW Radio Africa they heard a blast emanating from the
offices there and went there to see the vehicle on fire. He and other
students nearby were briefly detained and made to sit on the floor because
they had passed through a police cordon.

Speaking to SW Radio Africa,
Zimbabwe National Students Union President, Obert Masaraure, said the petrol
bomb seemed to have awoken authorities to the reality that students were
unhappy. He said after the blast the Vice Chancellor issued a notice
announcing he had ‘out of his grace’ extended the registration deadline and
allowed students to register between the 8th and 14th
December.

Meanwhile Daniel Molokele, a founding member of ZINASU, has
said the union has lost its voice and simply become a pawn for the rival
factions in civil society vying to control it. He told our Behind the
Headlines series that when they set up the union it was meant to ‘ensure
that the students had their own national platform that would allow them, as
equal partners, to engage government, to engage the rest of civil society
and so on.’

Molokele said ZINASU was meant to be an apolitical structure,
but some of the alliances it built up over the years have compromised it. He
accused the National Constitutional Assembly and the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Coalition of weakening the union, by trying to influence some of its
decisions. Only last year ZINASU split into two factions, over a variety of
reasons, including whether to support the government backed
constitution-making process or not.

Grace
Mugabe's lawsuit plot to blackmail Trevor Ncube - Sources

HARARE – President Mugabe is using his wife
to launched a defamation lawsuit against a private Sunday newspaper as plot
to blackmail South African based Zimbabwean publisher Trevor Ncube whose
South African newspaper won the right to publish highly incriminating 2002
election report marred by violence and widespread vote rigging, The Zimbabwe
Mail can reveal.

Robert Mugabe's wife is suing a newspaper for $15
million for publishing a Wikileaks cable saying she benefited from illicit
diamond trade.

Last week, The Standard newspaper quoting a cable sent by
US ambassador James McGee to Washington in 2008, reported that Grace Mugabe
gained millions of dollars from illegal diamonds mining, in the Marange
district of eastern Zimbabwe.

The standard is owned by Trevor Ncube,
a Zimbabwean publisher based in South Africa, who also owns South African
newspaper The Mail & Guardian.

On Tuesday Ncube's publication The
Mail & Guardian won its bid to obtain a confidential report on the 2002
Zimbabwe presidential election at the South African Supreme Court of Appeal
(SCA) in Bloemfontein.

President Jacob Zuma's office had appealed against
the June 2010 judgement in the North Gauteng High Court which ordered the
government to release the report to the M&G.

Last night, a high
ranking source in the Zimbabwe government Intelligence services revealed to
our reporter in Harare that there is growing fear in Zanu PF ranks and
Security agencies that the incriminating report could be laid in the public
and it could be used by the International Criminal Court of justice to
prosecute Zanu PF leaders, particularly those involved in the farm
invasions.

Apart from violence and vote-rigging, the report could also
re-ignite legitmacy issues on Robert Mugabe ahead of 2011
elections.

Meanwhile, our source said, on Monday there were a flurry of
meetings and briefings by high ranking Zanu PF officials led by Defence
Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa ahead of Tuesday's ruling by the South African
Supreme Court of Appeal, and a number of options were discussed, and an
agreed position was to launch a direct counter-challenge on Trevor Ncube's
business interests in Zimbabwe.

The attorney general Johannes Tomana,
and the Chief Prosecutor Chris Mutangadura, Grace Mugabe's uncle Maxwell
Ranga who is masquerading acting permanent secretary in the Justice Ministry
and doubling up as President Mugabe's lawyer, even though it is well known
that he has never been to a law school, and together with a number of top
Zanu PF linked High Court Judges, met on Tuesday to draft a $15 million
defamation case against The Standard on behalf of the First
Lady.

Lawyers for Zimbabwe’s First Family, the Mugabes, have, in recent
weeks, been busy repairing the damaged image of their clients shortly after
revelations from WikiLeaks, the controversial whistle-blower website, was
published by a local newspaper.

The Zimbabwe Mail can reveal that
Grace Mugabe has stuffed her relatives in key positions of every
Ministry.

Meanwhile, our source also revealed to our reporter that
President Mugabe personally prepared his defence against Tsvangirai's High
Court challenge and asked Grace's uncle Mawxell Ranga to represent him amid
reports that he no longer trusts his Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa.

President Mugabe who is an accomplished constitutional lawyer
himself stated in the filed affidavit that in terms of Rule 18 of the High
Court Rules, RGN1047/1971, it was not possible to sue a sitting
President.

The rule reads: “No summons or other civil process of the
court may be sued out against the President or against any of the judges of
the High Court without the leave of the court granted on court application
being made for that purpose.”

Mugabe said it was clear from the said
Rule that leave to institute proceedings against the President was required
before an application could be instituted against him.

But Tsvangirai
maintains that as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe as defined in the Global
Political Agreement signed by the three principals, Mugabe should have
consulted him before re-appointing the governors.

Mugabe's
newspaper urges Zimbabwe vote

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) – President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party
gathered for its annual conference on Friday with an official newspaper
demanding new elections as Zimbabwe's power-sharing government had
"failed".

"The marriage of convenience between ZANU-PF and the MDC
(Movement for Democratic Change) formations has failed to work," said The
People's Voice.

"The conference must therefore prepare ZANU-PF for next
year's elections so that the MDC is thrown into the dustbin of history were
it belongs."

Zimbabwe is in the throes of a vicious battle between Mugabe
and his Prime Minister and arch-foe Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC, who formed
a power-sharing administration six months after a chaotic presidential vote
in 2008.

Around 3,000 ZANU-PF delegates were assembling in the
eastern city of Mutare where it is expected they will rubber stamp Mugabe's
push for polls in the first half of 2011.

"Every delegate is ready
for the battle of elections next year," Mike Madiro, a ZANU-PF provincial
chairman, told AFP.

Mugabe, who at 86 is Africa's oldest leader, will
address delegates and officially open the conference later in the
afternoon.

In March 2008, Tsvangirai won the presidential election
defeating Mugabe, but he fell short of the required majority resulting in a
run-off ballot which the MDC leader refused to take part in, allowing Mugabe
to triumph unopposed.

On Thursday, Tsvangirai said only a
presidential vote would address the issue of "illegitimacy" following the
disputed run-off poll, but he refused to specify any date when elections
should take place.

The MDC has previously said that credible polls are
not possible until 2012 at the earliest.

Foreign diplomats in Harare
have recently warned that fresh elections could plunge the country back into
bloodshed and chaos.

Tsvangirai agreed to join Mugabe in a unity
government less than two years ago, partly to end deadly violence that his
party says killed more than 300 of its supporters around the time of the
inconclusive presidential elections.

Army
buys Presidential helicopter for Mnangagwa

Harare – Mugabe’s heir
apparent, Defence Minister, Emerson Mnangagwa is now travelling in a new
multi-million dollar Russian made presidential helicopter, as the chairman
of the notorious Joint Operations Command (JOC) prepares to takeover
leadership from the ageing leader.

Sources at Defence House in Harare
said Mugabe and JOC, which comprise top generals and other security chiefs,
directed that Mnangagwa be given presidential treatment to go along with his
status as the ‘President in waiting.’A senior defence official said a
Russian made 20-seater MIA presidential helicopter which was initially meant
for Mugabe, was now being used by Mnangagwa who is often seen flying to his
base and stronghold in the Midlands province.mnangagwaJPG1He said the
Russian chopper was bought by the Airforce of Zimbabwe (AFZ) early this year
with the view to replace the current French made Cougar Presidential
helicopter which was facing problems of spare parts and service maintenance
due to western imposed sanctions against Mugabe and his close allies who
stand accused of gross violations of human rights including murder, rape and
torture of opposition supporters and officials.“Mnangagwa is now using the
new Russian presidential chopper after Mugabe refused to use it because of
security concerns regarding Russian made planes. The AFZ was then forced to
bust sanctions by using a third country from West Africa in order to acquire
critical spare parts for the old Presidential helicopter which is now up and
running after being grounded for several months,” said the defence
official.The current French made Presidential helicopter was bought in the
late1990’s under controversial circumstances as it was considered too
expensive and luxurious for a small economy like Zimbabwe’s.Another
official said Mnangagwa who is the Zanu PF Secretary for legal affairs, was
also now being given treatment accorded to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
as he is often seen travelling in a motorcade of three vehicles swamped with
intelligence and other security agents.

PF and the military want to
impose next year.Zanu faction, was leading the campaign to have Mugabe
re-elected through ‘hook or crook’ at polls which Mujuru PF, which is
bitterly opposed to the Solomon Zanu faction within MnangagwaHe said
the

“Once Mugabe is re-elected, he will have the liberty to anoint
Mnangagwa his successor as a reward for keeping him in power after Zanu PF
lost the 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections to Tsvangirai’s MDC,”
said the official.

The Zanu PF annual people’s conference which
begins in Mutare this week, is set to endorse Mugabe as the party’s
Presidential candidate for elections slated for next year before critical
electoral and other democratic reforms being demanded by the other parties
of the Government of National Unity are imposed.

The elections are
expected to be as violent as the June 2008 Presidential run-off poll where
Mugabe was the only candidate after his main rival and winner of the first
round, Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew due to widespread violence and
intimidation by the military and Zanu PF militias who were accused of
murdering, torturing and assaulting thousands of opposition supporters.

Zimbabwe’s mining ministry is essentially an offshoot of the
country’s military, a Policy Analyst from the Center for Global Liberty and
Prosperity at the Cato Institute has told the US House Committee on Foreign
AffairsSubcommittee on Africa and Global Health in a session called
‘Zimbabwe: From Crisis to Renewal’.

According to Marian L. Tupy, over
the last two years, the mining ministry has been awarding mining concessions
for exploration of Zimbabwe’s natural resources, including platinum,
diamonds, gold, chrome and nickel, to a number of South African, Chinese and
Russian state-owned or government-linked corporations.“Parts of the
proceeds from those mining operations are channeled to the Zimbabwean
military and to the ZANU-PF,” explains Tupy.

Reports indicate that
laborers in the Zimbabwean mines include Chinese and Zimbabwean prisoners,
continued Tupy.

According to Tupy, the sharing of the proceeds from the
exploitation of Zimbabwe’s natural resources with the military and the top
echelons ofthe police, while ignoring the rest of the population, can have
only one goal: Mugabe and the ZANU-PF are buying the loyalty of the armed
forces and police in order to crack down on the opposition in the future.

Zimbabwe
court acquits LGBT activist

Amnesty International has welcomed a Zimbabwe court's
decision to acquit a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights
activist charged with possession of pornographic materials.

Ellen
Chademana, an administrative assistant at the prominent NGO Gays and
Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), was acquitted by a magistrate's court in Harare
on Thursday.

The charges followed an armed police raid on the GALZ
offices in Milton Park Harare in May. Ellen Chademana was arrested and
detained for six days in Harare Central Prison with a colleague, Ignatius
Mhambi. Both were released on bail while the police investigation continued.
Ignatius Mhambi was acquitted of his charges in July.

"Ellen
Chademana and other staff members of GALZ have faced repeated harassment for
carrying out legitimate work to protect the rights of Zimbabwe's LGBT
community," said Michelle Kagari of Amnesty International

"Though
delighted with her acquittal we continue to urge the unity government and
police to end the persistent harassment of human rights defenders in
Zimbabwe."

Ellen Chademana told Amnesty International that she was happy
with the judgement but that she was now worried about her
security.

On Wednesday evening before the court judgement, police visited
the GALZ offices and demanded entry by threatening the security personnel
with arrest.

"This was obviously an act of intimidation by the police
and an abuse of their authority," said Michelle Kagari.

“The police
must acknowledge the role of all LGBT rights defenders by putting an end to
their harassment and ensuring their protection and security.”

Mutambara
finally rejected by own party

Harare - MDC-M leader Arthur Mutambara has been dumped by
Harare Province in the next year’s congress top seven elections because of
‘hero worshipping’ ZANU-PF President Robert Mugabe.

The party’s
Harare Province on Thursday night convened a meeting to nominate candidates
to fill the top seven leadership positions of the party at the congress
scheduled for 8-9 January 2011.

At the meeting Harare province nominated
party secretary general Welshman Ncube as the next President, deputised by
Edwin Mushoriwa. Priscillar Misihairambwi Mushonga was nominated Secretary
General Candidate, while Goodrich Chimbaira will be the National Chairman.
Moses Mzila Ndlovu will deputise Misihairambwi, Paul Themba Nyati is going
to be the Party Treasurer General candidate deputised by Theresa
MarimaZhira-Muchovo.

mutambara_officialddesertedSpeaking to ZimEye after
the meeting the Party’s secretary for information and publicity Kurauone
Chihwayi, said there has been complaints within the party about Mutambara’s
hero worshiping President Mugabe.

“What I can say is that at the
moment we are wearing three jackets one being MDC led by Tsvangirai, the
other one ZANU-PF and our MDC, that’s what people view us as. We are saying
its high time we remove the other two jackets and stand as MDC, the reason
for the rejection of Mutambara by the people, “said
Chihwai.

Mutambara drew wide controversy from many Zimbabweans who
accused him of speaking like a CIO operative.

South
Africa ups border security amid Christmas travel

South Africa says it is
ramping up border security 'to ensure the safe and smooth movement of
travelers.' Rights activists worry the government is targeting Zimbabwean
migrants traveling home for Christmas.

By Savious Kwinika, Correspondent
/ December 17, 2010Johannesburg, South Africa

South Africa has
deployed hundreds of soldiers, police, and intelligence personnel to tighten
security at the northern border with Zimbabwe, a senior official announced
on Friday.

The Beitbridge-Musina border crossing between Zimbabwe and
South Africa is one of the busiest international roadways in Africa. Many
travelers to and from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia,
Malawi, Tanzania, and Mozambique pass through.

Home Affairs spokesman
Ronnie Mamoepa today told the Monitor that increased security was aimed at
ensuring security and speedy travel at Christmastime. "As a department, we
are confident that all the required measures are in place to ensure the safe
and smooth movement of travelers into and out of the country," he
says.

But some Zimbabweans and human rights activists see the deployment
of police, soldiers, and intelligence officers as an attempt to stop the
migration of Zimbabweans into South Africa.

It is estimated that more
than 3 million Zimbabweans are living in South Africa, some of them
illegally, and the latest deployment of security agencies comes as a Dec. 31
deadline for Zimbabweans to renew their asylum status in South Africa
approaches. Christmas is a peak season for many foreigners living in South
Africa to visit family in their home countries.

Mr. Mamoepa says the
Department of Home Affairs has ensured optimal security for South Africans
by working closely with other government departments and agencies such as
the South Africa Police Service (SAPS), South Africa National Defence Force
(SANDF), Intelligence and the Border Control Coordinating Committee (BCOCC),
and the South Africa Revenue Service (SARS).

Mamoepa says top priority
has been put on the Zimbabwe/South Africa border-post at Musina-Beitbridge,
where there is always a high volume of travelers.

He says borders
where Home Affairs would provide tight security include the Lebombo border
post between South Africa and Mozambique, Ficksburg border post between
Lesotho and South Africa, the Oshoek border post between South Africa and
Swaziland, and the Kopfontein border post between Botswana and South
Africa

"As a consequence of 24-hour monitoring through its operations
center, the department will be in a position to rotate this capacity at
short notice to ports of entry with high volumes," says Mamoepa. Home
Affairs has also added 198 officials at key land ports of entry.

Mugabe
election call spoils the party

HARARE – The arrival of dusk illuminates the park in central
Harare, glowing with lights and decorations that mark the arrival of
Christmas, radiating the mood in this southern African country that had
dimmed in the last decade as its citizens grappled with an economic and
political crisis.

For many Zimbabweans though, the festive mood is
quickly soured by prospects of a return to elections, most likely mid next
year, once again pitting longtime rivals President Robert Mugabe and his
rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Zimbabweans have seen their
lives slowly return to normal since last year in February when Mugabe and
Tsvangirai formed an uneasy coalition after a decade marked by
hyper-inflation, shortages of food, fuel and cash and political violence
that uprooted thousands of families.

Many Zimbabweans are enjoying the
fruits of the unity government and more so in the capital Harare where the
feel of Christmas is unmistakable, with shops, which only a year ago were
half empty, now fully stocked with goods.

“This will be a better
Christmas somehow, I can feel it,” said Allen Makumbe, a father of two while
buying some new clothes for his two daughters at a local clothing retail
store.

“We are trying to manage with the little that we have but I know
it will be a Christmas unlike any other we have had in recent times,” he
told ZimOnline.

Wine and Cheese

Plastic fir trees that
decorate shops, Santa Claus at street corners in the central business
district and banners advertising sales discounts all add to the flair of
Christmas.

Shops have had to extend trading hours to cope with shoppers
after major clothing retailers resumed selling goods on credit, giving much
relief for a majority of workers who only earn an average $250 a
month.

One major retailer has even invited account holders for wine and
cheese as part of a Christmas promotion to encourage hesitant customers to
buy clothes on credit.

In recent years Christmas had passed by with
little to cheer about, dampened by shortages of cash, which forced many
people to endure long queues for worthless bank notes.

“We are going
to travel to the countryside this year for Christmas. It has been a long
time since we spent the holidays there,” said Abigail Kumwenda, 43, and
mother of four, while buying groceries at a Chinese shop in downtown
Harare.

Here, queues form as shoppers seek bargains from popular
Chinese and Nigerian retailers flogging anything from food, clothes and
children’s toys on the cheap.

Downtown Harare is the hub of
low-income earners and soiled U.S. dollar notes are in vogue.

“This
year (has been a) very busy for us. You can see the queue outside,” said
Chen Liu, who runs a clothing shop, in downtown Harare, where an odd white
couple could be seen purchasing a pair of sandals.

War Drums

While
Zimbabweans stock up and prepare for Christmas, political clouds are
gathering on the horizon, with Mugabe and his ZANU-PF beating election war
drums.

The veteran leader, who at one time precariously hung onto
power after being defeated by Tsvangirai in general elections in 2008, but
has increasingly regained his confidence, wants elections held by next June
to end the fragile unity government.

Zimbabwe’s elections in the last
ten years have been anything but peaceful, always ending in dispute, with
accusations of rigging and violence directed against the 86-year-old Mugabe
and his party, inviting Western sanctions.

The last run-off election was
marked by violence perpetrated by Mugabe’s shock troops, war veterans and
youth militia and members of the military, which shocked even the most
neutral African leaders and forced the Southern African Development
Community to intervene.

No wonder Kumwenda is very afraid. “Elections
only bring trouble in this country. If only they could postpone them for a
while,” said Kumwenda, a former teacher in rural Murewa district, one of the
areas hardest hit by political violence in the June 2008 presidential
run-off vote.

Many Zimbabweans, including business leaders, are united on
the need to delay elections until 2013 fearing the country would slide back
to the days when black market flourished in step with a sinking economy,
which many critics largely blame on mismanagement by Mugabe.

But it
is one Christmas present ZANU PF is set to deny Zimbabweans with the party’s
annual conference that opens in the eastern Mutare city today expected to
endorse Mugabe’s call for fresh elections next year.

“I am really looking
forward to Christmas this year but I feel like someone sleeping with one eye
open when I think that we may go to elections again next year,” said
39-year-old Maxwell Katiyo, who runs a mobile phone repair shop in Harare.
-- ZimOnline

Bill Watch 52/2010 - 16th December [Finance Act Debacle]

BILL WATCH
52/2010

[16th December 2010]

The
Finance (No. 2) Bill : How Not to Pass Budget
Legislation

The passage of the
Finance Bill violated constitutional procedures Paragraph
6 of Schedule 4 to the Constitution, dealing with money Bills, restricts the
right of the House of Assembly to make changes to a money Bill that it has
passed and then received back from the Senate with recommended amendments – all
it can do is endorse or reject the Senate recommendations. But the House
contravened this provision on 14th December when it made substantial changes to
the Finance (No. 2) Billthat had
not been recommended by the Senate. In doing so the House’s Standing Order 153
was also contravened. This should not have been permitted by the Speaker – it
is his job to see that both the provisions in the Constitution on the passage of
Bills, and the House’s standing orders, are adhered to.

What are money Bills?After a Budget has been presented to the House of Assembly, two
“money Bills” have to be passed by Parliament:

·an Appropriation Bill, which gives legal force to the Estimates of Expenditure

·a Finance Bill, which makes legal provision for changes in collection of revenue
such as taxes, custom duties, etc. for the following year

Bad
precedent The habit of
fast-tracking Budget legislation seems to have
become established. Fast-tracking any important Bill is wrong, because it
leaves Parliamentarians with insufficient time to think through the Bill’s
implications, consult with the electorate and subject the Bill to proper
scrutiny and debate. This year it caused problems with the money Bills. MP’s
had to be more or less strong-armed by respective party heavyweights into
passing the Appropriation Bill. And the Finance Bill came off the
rails.

Finance Bill Débâcle

Initial passage through both Houses relatively
smooth:

Through
the House of AssemblyThe Finance (No 2) Bill,was
tabled on 25th November after Minister Biti’s Budget Statement in the House of
Assembly. On 8th December it was fast-tracked and passed with the support of
ZANU-PF members; there was no debate and no amendments during its
passage. The Bill was then transmitted to the Senate.

Through
the SenateOn 10th December the Senate passed the Bill but recommended three
amendments, all to do with the membership of certain statutory boards.
According to paragraph 6 of Schedule 4 to the
Constitution, the Senate has no power to amend a money Bill but it can recommend
amendments.If it does so, the Bill is returned to the House of Assembly, which
considers the recommendations and can either reject or accept them.The
Senate then adjourned until 8 February next year.

There was no discussion of clause
21in either HouseClause 21,
amending the Exchange Control Act, was approved without comment by both
Houses.

Ensuing
storm of state media accusations According to state media reports on 12th December, ZANU-PF members
suddenly repented their earlier support and the Minister of Finance was accused
of using a money bill to clandestinely try to usurp Presidential powers. Their
objections focused on clause 21 of the Bill, which would have amended the
Exchange Control Act so as
to transfer regulation-making powers from the President
to the Minister of Finance.[Comment: The clause was hardly “clandestine” – it was in the Bill
tabled by the Minister on 25th November and its effect was clearly stated in the
explanatory memorandum accompanying the Bill]

The Bill
was then wrongfully altered by the House of Assembly Whenthe Bill was returned to the
House of Assembly on 14th December for consideration of the Senate’s
recommendations, the House accepted the three amendments recommended by the
Senate. But it went a step too far and also, on the motion of the Minister of
Finance, altered the Bill as originally passed by the House of Assembly by
deleting two clauses which both the House and the Senate had approved without
qualification– clause 21, the Exchange Control Act provisioncastigated in the
Sunday media reports, and also clause 24, which would have required parastatals
to pay their surplus revenues into the State’s Consolidated Revenue Fund. No
explanation was offered to the House for the removal of these two clauses, and
there was no debate. The House simply rubber-stamped the changes
[presumably bowing to pressure
raised by one party and the state media].

The House
had no power to remove clauses 21 and 24 from the Bill. All it should have done
was to consider the Senate’s recommended amendments and
reject or endorse them. The House, in other words, does not have a free hand to
tinker with a money Bill that has been returned from the Senate. In the case of the Finance (No. 2) Bill, therefore, the House could
not legally delete clauses 21 and 24 because the Senate had not made any
recommendations regarding those clauses.

The
Senate has been recalled to consider the deletion of
clause 21 and 24 from the Finance Bill at a special sitting this afternoon.
But, because the deletions by the House were
unconstitutional, the Bill will not be properly passed by Parliament whatever
the Senate agrees to.

If signed and gazetted as an Act it
will be open to court challenges A Bill that has
not been properly passed is not a law and its provisions have no legal effect.
So if the Finance Bill in its present form is signed by the President and
gazetted as an Act, that Act will not be a valid law and its provisions for such
matters as collecting taxes could be struck down by the courts. The Minister of
Finance, of all people, should be aware of this, because the Supreme Court made
the point in the case of Biti v Minister of Justice 2002 (1) ZLR 177,
when Mr Biti got the General Laws Amendment Act of 2002, which had been passed
unprocedurally, invalidated.

A Succession of
Mis-steps

The passage of the Finance Bill has raised
a great deal of unnecessary acrimony – some of the
articles in the state media
were vituperative – and it has required the Senate to be recalled,
entailing needless expense and trouble.What went
wrong?

1.The offending clauses should not have been included in the Finance
BillMost government legislation is vetted by the Cabinet Committee on
Legislation and the Cabinet before it is presented in Parliament. Money Bills are an exception.They are intended to give effect to the Budget and are presented to the House of Assembly without having been
approved by the Cabinet or any Cabinet committee.There is however a necessary corollary to this: money Bills should be
restricted to implementing the budget.
They should not go further than that.They should not, for example, deal with the composition and
procedures of the Board of ZIMRA, the size of exclusive prospecting reservations
under the Mines and Minerals Act, the qualifications for members of the State
Procurement Board or other parastatal bodies, nor should they transfer
responsibility for the making of regulations under the Exchange Control Act —
all of which the current Bill Finance (No. 2) Bill did.

If the Minister of Finance is allowed to
present such far-ranging provisions in a Finance Bill that has not gone through
Cabinet, then Cabinet solidarity, one of the lynch-pins of Cabinet government,
is threatened. It should be noted that for many years past, Ministers of
Finance have included far-reaching provisions in their Finance Bills which had
little or nothing to do with the budgets they presented to Parliament. ZANU-PF
members of Parliament did not object then, presumably because the Ministers
belonged to their own party. Minister Biti is merely continuing a
well-established, albeit undesirable, practice.

2.The objection raised to clause 21 of the Bill was
misdirectedAccording to the press reports, ZANU-PF objected
to clause 21 of the Finance Bill on the ground that it would transfer
to the Minister of Finance powers that should properly vest in the
President.This misses the most important point:the regulation-making powers conferred by the Exchange Control Act,
which the Bill would have transferred to the Minister, are far too broad to be
given to any one member of the Executive, whether President or
Minister.Under the Exchange Control Act, in its present form, these
regulations can be made for all or any of the following matters: gold, currency and securities; imports and exports; transfers of
property of all kinds; payments; the compulsory acquisition of property, other
than land; the search and entry of premises, thus, potentially ccontrolling virtually all commercial activity in Zimbabwe. In a
democratic State, such powers should be exercised, if at all, only by detailed
Acts of Parliament and should never be delegated to a member of the Executive.
The amendment sought to be made by clause 21 of the Bill would not have affected
this: indeed it would have made it worse because when the President makes
regulations under section 2 of the Exchange Control Act he must, at least in
theory, get the Cabinet to agree to them; the Minister of Finance would not
have been subject to this restriction.

Whatever the Minister’s motives for the
amendment — and they were probably entirely honourable — the amendment should
have been rejected on the ground that it was inimical to democracy.What is needed is a complete replacement of the Exchange Control Act
with a new statute setting out precisely and transparently the rules for
transactions which affect Zimbabwe’s balance of payments.

3.
Why did it take so long
to spot the offending clauses 21 and 24? Both clauseswere in the Bill tabled along with the
Budget Statement on 25th November and made available to all Parliamentarians.
Both clauses should have been dealt with when first before either of the Houses,
thereby avoiding both present and potential future complications.

Some Lessons to be
Drawn:

·Ministers of Finance should ensure that
their budget legislation deals only with budgetary matters — primarily the rates
and incidence of taxation and the appropriation of funds between the Ministries
and Departments of the State — and not with matters that have only an indirect
effect on taxation and appropriation.If they want to make other amendments to their
legislation, they should follow normal Cabinet procedures like any other
Minister.

·Members of Parliament should study Bills
before they vote for or against them.

·For taxes to be valid, the legislation by
which they are enacted must be properly passed by Parliament in accordance with
the provisions of the Constitution.

A Question

If Members
of Parliament, for whatever reason, ignore or override the provisions of the
present Constitution, what hope have we that they be able to produce a sensible,
democratic and durable draft to replace it? And what hope have we of
establishing a culture of constitutionalism in Zimbabwe?

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take legal responsibility for information
supplied